Denise Dresser Quotes
For Mexicans, corruption is not a deal breaker.
Dresser, Denise. Quoted in "Mexico's PRI Returns to Power." The Washington Post, 2 July 2012.
One major theory is that most Government lies are perpetrated by Appointees who will only be working for the government for a few years. By the time the truth comes out, they are no longer in office and cannot be affected much by the revelation of the truth. The law actually protects most Federal Officials from criminal or civil penalties for most lies told while in office.
California legislators do not have the kind of individual powers and discretion that other legislatures such as New York have. The result is that lobbyist and powerful special interests cannot assure a benefit if they invest in a legislator in California and the temptations in California are therefore less leading to less corruption.
“Magistrate” historically has had a political meaning of the chief executive of a political entity. Mayors are still referred to as the “Chief Magistrate of the city.” The President is sometimes referred to as the “Chief Magistrate.” Lower magistrates can be political appointees who have power and responsibility for governing as well as judges of courts to whom the term “magistrate” refers in most modern references. The older use of the term harkens back to a time when there was no separation of powers and the assembly was the legislative, executive and judicial powers all at the same time.
The Congressman, who had not been previously an enthusiastic leader for this type of reform, found himself with a chance to become Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. The previous leader was under indictment and was linked, along with other Republican Congressman to a Lobbyist who had pleaded guilty to bribing Congressmen. Another Republican Congressman had plead guilty to the felony of accepting bribes. The party that Controlled Congress was fearful of a voter backlash over the corruption—especially the role of lobbyists in giving money to Congressional campaigns. Bainor became a reform leader.
implicit in the weak ethics rules of the U.S. House of Representatives
Historically in America, the local governments have been the most corrupt. State government somewhat less so, and the Federal Government has statistically, given the number of employees, the lowest proportion of corrupt officials. Even in modern times, there are many local jurisdictions where bribes of building inspectors, zoning officials, health inspectors and police are still common. At the end of the 20th century, for example, every single Kentucky County Commissioners but one was indicted and convicted for accepting bribes and kickbacks. At the federal level, there is much moral corruption with Presidents and members of Congress taking "campaigh contributions" in exchange for access and the ability to influence and even write legislation. The members of Congress wrote the laws so activities that many peopke would see as corrupt was actually legal. Even when the campaign conributions were used to pay "salaries" to the relatives of the member of Congress or he/she added the money to his/her retirement fund.
The irony of this quotation is that he is the architect and controller of the Russian system that he is criticizing.
Denise Eugenia Dresser Guerra is a Mexican writer, and university professor. She is currently a faculty member of the Department of Political Science at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), columnist in Proceso magazine, editorial writer for the newspaper Reforma, and participates in "La Hora De Opinar" TV Forum. She was awarded with the Legion of Honor of the French Republic in the rank of Knight, the highest distinction awarded by the French government to citizens and foreigners, for her defense of freedom of expression and human rights. She has been named by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful women in Mexico and one of the 50 most influential women in Twitter.
